i'm thomas robertson for tamron hall on assignment. the political theater over the fiscal cliff. treasury secretary tim geithner is on capitol hill right now set to meet with nancy pelosi in less than an hour. earlier today geithner met behind closed doors with house speaker john boehner, senate majority leader harry reid and frank mcconnell. the word he used to describe the overall negotiations, disappointing. >> no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. listen, this is not a game. jobs are on the line. the american economy is on the line. and this is a moment for adult

leadership. campaign style rallies and one-sided leaks in the press are not the way to get things done here in washington. >> democrats today said they're confident a deal can be reached by christmas. but admit negotiations would need to pick up steam. as for senator reid, he says it's now up to the gop to make the next move. >> we're still waiting for a serious offer from the republicans. the president has made his proposal. we need a proposal from them. >> okay. let's dig in and bring in nbc's capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. fill us in on how the meetings are going so far. last but not least, nancy pelosi coming up. >> exactly. she'll meet within the hour. each of these prooit meetings today an important step to get a sense of where the white house is with the congressional leaders. we don't always get one on one meetings. that may be helpful in moving things along. the political word of the day seems to be specifics. both republicans and democrats

are battering the other side saying there aren't enough specific proposals. we're sort of in that moment where the real work happens behind the scenes and the front stage part, the political theater you referred to, is about sort of testing the moment. we've heard optimism earlier in the process. today seems to be a more negative day in tone as far as what we're hearing. here's a sense of how the day is playing out. >> we put real concessions on the line by putting revenues on the table right up front. unfortunately, many democrats continue to rule out sensible spending cuts that must be part of any significant agreement that will reduce our deficit. >> the president has put forward in september of 2011 with his proposal to the so-called super committee and his budget of february of 2011 very specific spending cuts, including savings from health care entitlement programs. >> so one of the issues is, when you talk specifics and they become part of the public

conversation, it's very easy for those things to get derailed in the time available where all the sides sort of clamber and attack some of the specifics. both parties have an interest in keeping some of this close to the vest. what we're hearing from senate democrats today is they believe that the election suggests that the public really wants those higher rates for the higher earners in terms of taxes. senator reid and other democrats don't want to talk about specific cuts or entitlement reforms publicly. everyone saying they don't want to negotiate from the podium. but everyone is aware it's the end of november. there isn't a lot of time left. and how quickly and how peacefully can they come to a resolution is a real question. it's a long process and today is one of those data points where i think you get a sense that people are a bit frustrated. >> he tried to bush boehner on the details. he pushes back about not wanting to get boxed in. it's a confusing they take to the microphone to talk about it then don't want to talk about it at the same time. politico is reporting that a framework for fiscal

negotiations has already emerged. here is what they say to expect. about $1.2 trillion in tax increases on the wealthy. at least $400 billion in entitlement cuts mainly from medicare, not to mention spending cuts. that figure, at least $1.2 trillion, according to politico. let's bring in news nation political panel. nationally syndicated radio talk show host and msnbc contributor micha michael smir connish. zacha zachary carabel. zachary, as we look at this and what we know so far and the talking points that go back and forth, we haven't got specifics, details from the right. we hear what the left wants. isn't the onus on john boehner and the right to say exactly what they want. >> i think it's on the onus of everybody to give a little in this. everyone talks about the simpson/bowles commission as a

template for across the board reductions of long-term spending along with tax increases. that would obviously be ideal. right now we're talking about $2 trillion of spending decreases plus tax cuts, which even though running a trillion dollars of deficits a year, that's over a ten-year period. we're not talking a huge dent in the situation here. granted, any progress is probably better than no progress. but what we are talking about versus the ten-year horizon that we're facing, there is still a huge gap between washington in general and those economic realities. >> meanwhile, timothy geithner goes to the hill today to take all of these big meetings. i want to play what former fdic chair sheila blair told our david gregory about why geithner might not be the best choice to have gone and done this. take a listen. >> i don't think this is tim's strong suit. tim was given the job of secretary treasure because he understood the banking system. he's not a budget guy. he's not a tax guy. he's never really worked in this sphere. >> zachary, your reaction to that? do you think he should have gone?

>> i don't know who else goes at this point unless it's obama himself. it's not like the white house is replete with people. make jack lou. i think there is a lot to be said for the white house and their position is going to be able to go through with tax cuts. you know, the middle-class tax cut's going to go through. the tax increases on the rich is going to go through. >> the president has the leverage. the gop accusing the white house of failing to put forward the specifics. are democrats saying we told you what to expect farce revenues, now tell us what you want. >> i think the democrats are really at this point just trying to play this game of chicken. i've just come from capitol hill just now. there was a press conference with harry reid and senator murray, senator schumer, senator durbin. i think what they're trying to do, this is a very high stakes game of chicken. they're trying to have the other side blink first and put out a detailed proposal they can then pick apart without having to do that first themselves. >> meanwhile we have republican

congressman tom cole, one of the many on the right out front saying he's willing to break the grover norquist tax pledge. basically urging the party to take the president's deal of extending the tax cuts for 98% of americans right away. i want to play what he had to say to our chuck todd earlier today, though. >> the president says he wants to make 80% of the bush tax cuts permanent for 98% of the american people. and take them out of the discussion. i think we should do that. now, that advise was given in private. >> you didn't intend for this to go public? >> no, i absolutely didn't. again, it is what i said. it's not an inaccurate report. >> all right. he didn't really want it to get out there, but it's out there. it's feathers to the wind. michael, you can't get this back. you know that well with radio. once you say it, it's out there. feathers to the wind. do you agree congressman cole is actually giving the speaker more flexibility in the negotiations? >> yes. thomas, there's a tendency to watch these negotiations from the sidelines and to think that

the prince piples speak for everyone. i think we learned two summers ago speaker boehner may be in a position where he's ready to cut a deal with the president but he can't control his caucus. to me the significance of congressman cole saying that is that it showed there's residual interest on the part of the constituency boehner must control to make this deal. you're right. you can't take it back. it seems quite obvious now those tax cuts are going to be extended for all but those ea earning in excess of $250,000. >> the president has the leverage going into this, basically the mandate of a federal election and the fact that these, you know, the taxes are going to go up on everybody after the first of the year anyway. the republicans need to get something done now while they still have a little bit of wiggle room here. democrats need 25 republicans. that's it. to get a middle class tax cut through the house before the deadline on this, michael. then we've got -- there's cole. then there's tim scott from south carolina who's shown that he's flexible as well.

are these people going to be critical, the critical congress people in getting a bill through the house? >> they are. but i read the mandate a little differently than i think your question suggests. i think that the mandate was for compromise. i think that one of the takeaways, one of the nets of this election is that people liked seeing the president working with the man who delivered the keynote address for the republican convention, governor christie, together on superstorm sandy. that's what they want more of. i think members of congress -- >> there's no chris christie in washington. michael, there's no chris christie that's circling around washington, d.c., right now that actually needs something from the president. christie needed stuff from the president and fema and wanted it directly to get to his people. of course they're going to play nice. >> i would like to think, though, the president was elected with a mandate. i can't say that. he doesn't control the house. he didn't have the house before. he doesn't have the house now. so compromise has got to be the word of the day. i think that that's what the constituents of these members most want.

>> all right. zachary, senator durbin says he could see $400 billion in entitlement cuts. democratic aides telling politico most of it is going to come from medicare in part by raising the retirement age. a move that more than two-thirds of americans oppose. that's according to the latest "washington post" poll. this is something that democrats are going to have a hard time signing off on. >> remember, the deal that was at least we know tentatively struck in the summer of 2011 was a much more extensive one in terms of entitlement cuts. i think it was up to $2 trillion. that was going to be really difficult for the democrats then. now you're talking $400 billion over ten years. $40 billion a year. these things have to happen. the question is will they happen in the next two weeks. this is where the republicans simply are in a weak position. if we go to january 1st and the dynamic is everything is going up because the republicans will not agree to taxes on the rich, i cannot see how that is a politically winning hand or an economically winning hand. >> we don't know all the things that are going on behind the scenes with these meetings with tim geithner today.

but after the meeting with geithner senator mitch mcconnell released a statement accusing democrats of taking a step back, away from the consensus needed to bring compromise, get us away from the fiscal cliff. but i want to play what he had to say on the senate floor earlier today as well. take a listen. >> the only reason democrats are insisting on raising rates is because raising rates on the so-called rich is the holy grail of libberloo. their aim isn't job creation. they're interested in wealth destruction. >> wealth destruction, nancy. back to this wealth distribution thing and their whole narrative of punishing success. what role is mitch mcconnell going to serve in these negotiations at all? >> he'll play a very key role. although you really have to keep in mind the final deal is really going to be struck between president obama and speaker boehner. and those are really the two people to watch. and their staffs right now. of course, mitch mcconnell will play a key role in bringing around senate republicans,

excuse me. but it's really between the house republicans and the white house at this point. you know, we have to watch and see what they do. i think there's a lot of public posturing. but i do think that all these people have been at this table before. they're very familiar with the contours of what they will agree to from the debt ceiling negotiations. and so it's really just a matter of getting closer and closer to that deadline, having the markets start to freak out and then realizing that they have to come up with something. >> seems like there's a lot of public theater going on with this one. >> quickly on michael's point, if the mandates for compromise, accusing the democrats of being wealth destroyers probably doesn't move the compromise needle very far. >> michael, zachary, nancy, thanks to all three of you. i appreciate it. developing now, this story we need to pass along to you about former president george h.w. bush expected to be released from the hospital within the next 72 hours. doctors in houston are treating him for complications related to bronchitis. the 88-year-old is in stable condition. mr. bush has been in and out of the hospital for the last couple of weeks suffering from a severe cold. we are following more

developing news for you. in less than an hour from now the u.n. is set to take up a historic vote on the palestinians' bid for statehood. thousands of palestinians have already been celebrating in the streets of the west bank today. we'll fill you in. plus, lunch at the white house. what we're learning about president obama and mitt romney's first face to face meeting since the election. and hostess wants to give its top execs nearly $2 million worth of bonuses as thousands of workers are losing their jobs. join our conversation on twitter. find us @newsnation. [ "odd couple" theme plays ] humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify.

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developing right now, we are about 45 minutes away from a united nations general assembly session that will result in a historic vote on palestinian statehood. there have already been rallies today in the palestinian territories in support of a resolution upgrading the palestinian's u.n. status to a nonmember state. the resolution is expected to win overwhelming approval in the general assembly despite strong opposition by the u.s. and israel. here's israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu earlier today. >> the palestinians must recognize the jewish state. and they must be prepared to end the conflict with israel once and for all. none of these vital interests, these vital interests of peace, none of them appear in the resolution that will be put forward before the general assembly today. and that is why israel cannot accept it. >> joining me now to talk more about this, former state department mideast officer joel ruben. also palestinian italian

journalist and msnbc contributor willa jabroe. both israel and the u.s. say the resolution violates agreements to solve issues through negotiations which broke down two years ago. on the heels of the recent violent clashes between gaza and israel is now the right time for this vote? >> well, it's a fate acomply that the vote is going to take place. it's been in the works for some time before -- really the bigger issue is how will the parties react after it? there's been a calm reaction to far. there should be one. they need to get back to the peace table. they need to get back to a negotiated process. because ultimately for the u.s., for israel and the palestinians, a resolution of this conflict through negotiation is the only way forward. and their leaders recognize that. so we're going to be looking at the day after to see how this really turns out.

>> as we talk about the geography of all this, the resolution does not change the map. but it does open the way for the possibility of palestinians to join international bodies like the international criminal court which is truly significant. there we have the geography to show everybody the map of the area. >> this is a great point, thomas. this is the main point. i mean, palestinians joining the icc, international criminal court, will put pressure on israel. because whatever actions israel take from tomorrow, they will be held accountable to it. even the settlements, most controversial issue on the table between palestinian and israel is the growth of the settlement. half million israelis live between the west bank and jerusalem. they have actually from tomorrow to consider that these settlements are illegal, considered illegal by the international community and the icc will investigate this and might indict actually some israeli officials. it will change the dynamic.

we need to empower our palestinian moderates and rally the palestinians around them. we can do that only if we give them something. some political commitment. >> in this case perception is reality when it comes to statehood. joel, are there any practical effects if the resolution is approved? >> there are no practical immediate effects. american law will not be triggered to cut off aid to the palestinians, for instance. so there is an opportunity to pivot from this. interestingly, in the past several weeks, the u.s. and israel have become very close under diplomatic strategies. the gaza conflict may have forced an acceleration of that. certainly leading into this vote as well. now there's an opportunity to capitalize on this new political connection. president obama, president abbas, prime minister netanyahu are all in stronger positions and they will be after today for

their domestic audiences to recognize the potential for some types of sacrifices in the days ahead. that's really where we need to go is to how to get a process started again that sees compromises and commitments. >> do you agree with that, rula? do you agree this will give a boost to the palestinian authority, mahmoud abbas? >> it will. not because of the united states', you know, help. actually, united states is voting against it. and -- >> in a voting bloc with israel. >> in bloc with israel undermining their own interest. these are the aspiration of a nation to have freedom, dignity and democracy. these are where the aspiration of the arab spring -- >> but until the u.s. doesn't feel that hamas is a terrorist organization -- >> it's not hamas who's asking this. it's not hamas who's asking. it's the palestinian authority. abbas. we told them what to do. we put the set of conditions.

they met all of these set of conditions, terms of security for israel and the west bank and everything else. but then we humiliated them, ignored them. they were desperate. this is a desperate move. it's the smartest move that they can -- >> when it comes to having the palestinian people unified under fatah or hamas, there's a big structural difference there between those two sides. so without the unification of that doesn't that make it difficult to know who you're dealing with? especially israel if fatah and hamas are not on the same page? >> today, former prime minister, there's a huge debate in israel. former prime minister, israeli prime minister said publicly that he supports this bid. that this bid actually enhances a two-state eventual solution. five members of the head secret service. five former head secret service in israel, they said that we need to negotiate as israel as anybody. this is what will guarantee our

security. and include hamas in this negotiation. they said it over and over. look, there's no military solution for this conflict. it's only a political solution and settlement. if we don't meet the palestinian aspiration for freedom, democracy and dignity and sovereign state, we will always have this conflict and we'll always have violence. if we will not empower mahmoud abbas, we automatically empower the other side. israel has been negotiating with hamas on the soldier that was kidn kidnapped, on the last conflict we had a week ago. if they want hamas to slowly, slowly -- if they want the palestinians to rally around mahmoud abbas and the moderates they have to accept this bid. >> it's about planting seeds for the future. >> give them hope and future and perspective and building actually citizens. >> we should know within the next 40 minutes or so with this vote coming up. >> it will come up. >> great to see you. thank you. coming up next, what a new

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read team says tom cole's comments on the fiscal cliff were a huge favor to speaker john boehner. plus, our news nation gut check. this congress is on track to becoming least productive class since the '40s. do you think the next congress will get anything more done? check us out on our news nation tumbler page. you'll find behind the scenes pictures you're looking for. newsnation.tumbler.com. [ female announcer ] a classic meatloaf recipe from stouffer's

starts with ground beef, unions, and peppers baked in a ketchup glaze with savory gravy and mashed russet potatoes. what makes stouffer's meatloaf best of all? that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. let's fix dinner. president obama and mitt romney met today for a private lunch at the white house. their first meeting since they traded barbs in a contentious election. romney has been keeping a pretty low profile in the three weeks since the election. he has made no public appearances. there you see him. unlike losing candidates in the past, he had no job in washington to return to. nbc's kristen welker live at the white house. let's get into this.

these meetings, i'm sure this was very civil. surely romney's comments leading up to this meeting about how president obama won this election was probably on the president's mind today. >> reporter: well, you would have to imagine that those comments were, thomas. however, i did ask white house press secretary jay carney if romney's comments that president obama won because he gave some of his key constituents gifts weighed in on the luncheon or if the op-ed written by chief romney strategist stewart stevens suggested president obama won because he's an african-american president who got middle class voters to vote for him, if any of these recent comments overshadowed or clouded this lunch. carney essentially said that they didn't have an impact. that president obama understands it was a tough campaign season and that this is the type of sort of looking back at the campaign that is going to happen in the weeks following the campaign. what carney did also confirm, thomas, is that romney was here primarily to discuss the economy, his ways for moving the economy forward. president obama, of course, said

on election night that he wanted to sit down with mitt romney and do exactly that. and carney was also asked again if president obama would be offering romney any sort of cabinet position. and carney said he did not expect that to happen. i think this was in large part about optics. striking a tone of bipartisanship after what was really a grueling campaign season. helping these two former rivals to essentially move forward. also, in turn, helping the country to move forward. >> is there going to be an internal release of a picture or something like that of the two-minute lunch today? we only have that, you know, little bit of video of mitt romney arriving. >> reporter: yes. that is what we are hoping for. we're hoping for a picture. we're hoping for a few details about what specifically happened. the white house has essentially said they're not going to read out this entire lunch. we asked them for a transcript. doesn't look like we're going to get that. we're hoping to get a few details a little later on this afternoon about what

specifically happened between these two men and maybe even a menu of what they ate. >> not only making new friends, but seeing old friends, mr. romney, while he's in dc? >> reporter: that's right. romney met with his former running mate, paul ryan, a little bit earlier on this morning. he said to reporters that it was nice to see his old friend, his old running mate. paul ryan issued a statement after that meeting and we have a graphic of that. i can read it to you right now, thomas. he said, i remain grateful to governor romney for the honor of joining his ticket this fall. i cherish our friendship. i'm proud of the principles and issues we advanced during the campaign and the commitment we share to expanding opportunity and promoting economic security for american families. so governor romney here meeting with various people at, of course, what is a very critical time. the deadline for the fiscal cliff is drawing near. you have to imagine that that was a large part of romney's discussions today both with president obama and with ryan. >> kristen welker at the white

house, thanks so much. we take you back on capitol hill where congressional leaders put much of their energy on the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations. oklahoma representative tom cole who broke ranks with republicans by embracing president obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthy stuck to his guns this morning. >> if we can give the american people an early christmas present, if they can listen to the debate instead of be worried that their own taxes are going to go up, i think that actually strengthens our hand. i haven't changed my mind. i'm not going to come out here and be disingenuous to people. i think it would be a step in the right direction. >> today john boehner expressed disappointment at where the negotiations stand. as our first read team points out, by siding with the white house tom cole may be helping boehner get the deal he wants. joining me now, political editor mark murray. why do you think tom cole has strengthened the speaker's position, negotiating position he goes in with? >> it has given john boehner some cover. you now have a conservativconse albeit establishment member of the house republican party who is essentially going to the left

of john boehner. of course, john boehner has basically said, look, i disagree with tom cole. what has happened, we have actually seen other republicans embrace what tom cole said. mary bono mack said she'd support something tom cole is calling for, extension of the bush tax cuts for the middle class, not for the wealthiest. by having this cover john boehner could actually have the flexibility to negotiate with the white house maybe something that doesn't go as far as the white house and tom cole want, but some other kind of middle ground. something we didn't see in the 2011 negotiations over the debt ceiling. >> meanwhile john boehner is being pretty elusive about what the specifics, the details are. i want to play a little bit of what he said today at his weekly briefing. >> revenue is on the table. but revenue was only on the table if there were serious spending cuts as part of this agreement. it has to be part of the agreement. we have a debt crisis. we're spending too much. >> so we know that revenue is on

the table and the president pretty much said that that was going to be the case if he got re-elected, the american people put him back in. does the left need to see what the right really wants when it comes to what they call entitlement cut spending? >> well, and that is the game. in fact, i think that this is really what republicans want to make an argument about. they've been trying to do so in the last couple days. democrats have said, look, we want revenues. we want increased taxes. if republicans, if you guys want entitlement reforms, you need to name them. republicans are saying, the white house and democrats know what we want when it comes to medicare, when it comes to social security. they need to actually come out and pick them. democrats, on the other hand, are almost kind of like, no, you guys need to name this stuff first before we start talking about it. again, thomas, we really are in the stage right now where this is a lot more about pr. it's about press conferences rather than hard negotiating. which we won't reach until about mid-december. >> mark murray, thank you, sir. i appreciate it. coming up in less than a half an hour from now, the start

of the u.n. general assembly session that is expected to result in an overwhelming approval of a resolution recognizing palestine as a state. that resolution is strongly opposed by israel and the u.s. which failed n eed in its effor prevent today's vote. joining me now is israeli vice minister, silvan shalom. israeli foreign minister lieberman has flown to new york as i understand. can you confirm whether or not he's addressing the assembly and what he will say? >> it's not decided yet. it's not the real issue. the real issue is if the international community will allow the palestinians to violate the agreement that they signed with israel. according to the oslo -- signed in 1993, no side can take a -- move. by doing so today, by approaching the u.n., by asking them to recognize the

palestinians as a state, an observer state, they are violating the agreement. it shows all of those israelis that are opposing any kind of agreement with the palestinians the truth. because they are telling us, if they are violating now the interim agreement, how can we make sure they will respect the final status agreement? while now the international community is supporting them by telling us please let them get the recognition, i think it will prevent any kind of progress in the near future. to make progress with the palestinians, to finally establish security. if they don't respect their signature now, why would we believe after we make the compromise and we pass some territory to their hands to keep it after. >> when we have certain pictures i want to show everybody of celebrations that are taking place about this. palestinians would like to see statehood go through to give them a sense of country. and self. but as we see what took place

between gaza and israel, that eight-day bombardment of rockets going back and forth and egypt having to step in to broker a peace deal, do you think that if the u.n. recognizes statehood that palestine and palestinians and israeli negotiations would be better suited to coming up to a longer standing two-state solution? >> to get a state that will have only through negotiations. they know it. we know it. united states knows it. all the europeans know it. after the operations in gaza they feel maybe -- they have to encourage him and do everything to -- maybe help him. they had like to help him by the recognition today. it's a meaningless resolution. to get a state should be only

through negotiations. all of us knows it. we are trying to negotiate with them since we took power. not only us. the former prime minister offered them almost everything. 98.5% of the territory. they didn't say yes. when barak was prime minister of israel, he offered the same to arafat and arafat said yes -- said no. so now since we took power, they put any obstacle they could in order to resume the negotiations. first they ask prime minister netanyahu to accept the idea of two-state solution like his predecessor did. he made the statement. after the demand -- to freeze the settlements. we took the decision to freeze the settlements. even then they didn't show up. so what needs to be done these days is that palestinians will come to resume the negotiations. with no preconditions. and if they will do so, they

will find us really would like to move toward peace. but that kind of resolution is not helpful. >> it seems as though this vote, as we have said they do have overwhelming support that will happen at the u.n. today. what is israel's plan post this assembly knowing that they have moved along as a nonmember state? >> of course, by violating the oslo agreements it says maybe those accords doesn't exist anymore. we don't want, of course, to take that move and to destroy everything that was built between us and the palestinians. but it says very clear, if you don't respect your signature about the interim agreement, how can we make sure that you will respect your signature about the final status agreement? and i think that the international community should tell them like they told them in september '11. not september 11th here in new york but in 2011 in september last year when they approached the u.n. and the security council and they told them no. if you would like to have a

state, it's through negotiations. to get a state, it can be done only through the security council. today they are moving to the u.n. assembly. it's only symbolic move. it's a meaningless resolution. but, still, it shows what their intentions for the future. they don't want to respect their signatures and their commitments. and we are very sorry for it. >> we'll keep our eye on the vote for this. israel's vice prime minister, silvan shalom. we're back with much more right after this. plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone -- and may not clear you completely, but for many, it gets skin clearer fast, within 2 months, and keeps it clearer up to 9 months. [ male announcer ] because enbrel®, etanercept, suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers,

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more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late. egypt's president is expected to address the nation. before that atresz, more violence today in the streets of cairo. protesters demanding president morsi rescind his decree once again clashing with police. there are calms for giant protests coming up for tomorrow as well as saturday. nbc news chief foreign

correspondent richard engel joins us live from cairo with more on this. president morsi, richard, is expected to address the nation at the top of the hour. do we have any information about what he's going to say basically trying to calm the crowds that are expected to protest? >> reporter: yeah. i think what he's going to say, however, is not going to calm these crowds. it is only going to make them more angry. he's probably going to set a date for a referendum on the constitution. as you said, a week ago today, president morsi gave himself extraordinary powers. he made himself more powerful than any previous egyptian presidents. more powerful than the kings of egypt, in fact. he said that his word was law. that in decree that he issued could not be overturned by the supreme court, by any court in this land. his word was god's word. and people here became very upset. they couldn't exactly figure out what he was trying to do. now it's become clear what he was trying to do.

the constitutional drafting body that is writing the new constitution for this country, like the founding fathers, if you will, of the united states, decided to speed up the process. there are some people who believe that this body is not representative. it's composed of islamists, people who support morsi. and, believe it or not, they finished their constitution in record time. and now because they have the protection of morsi, the constitution cannot be challenged. that's why people are out on the street here. they think that this whole process has been a sham. that morsi grabbed powers, he had his allies rush through a constitution that, according to people here, doesn't protect women's rights sufficiently, gives too much power or potential power to islamic clerics in this country, makes coptic christians second-class citizens. a whole host of grievances against this new draft constitution.

there are other people in this society, morsi supporters, who think this cushionstitution is fabulous. egypt is very divided. we expect morsi to come out and say to all egyptian people the constitution is written. now you the people have the right to vote on it. and half the people in this country, the people who are represented here in tahrir, are going to clearly vote no. but most observers expect that the constitution will pass. this is not a good sign for the revolution that began here nearly two years ago which was supposed to be for liberal and let's call it democratic values, not for what many believe was a muslim brotherhood takeover by morsi. >> a lot of people will be watching coming up to find out exactly what morsi has to say again at the top of the hour. protests still planned for tomorrow and saturday. richard engel reporting from cairo for us. richard, thank you. there's a lot going on today. here are just some of the things we thought you should know. turns out that president obama's

victory over mitt romney is bigger than first thought. on the day after election day it was 50% to 48%. as votes keep coming in, it's now 50.9% to 47.4%. that's a bigger margin than president george w. bush's victory over john kerry in 2004. [ emily jo ] derrell comes into starbucks with his wife, danielle, almost every weekend. derrell hasn't been able to visit his mom back east in a long time. [ shirley ] things are sometimes a little tight around the house. i wasn't able to go to the wedding. [ emily jo ] since derrell couldn't get home, we decided to bring home to him and then just gave him a little bit of help finding his way. ♪ [ laughs ] [ applause ] i love you. i love you, too.

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restore revive rejuvenate rebuild rebuild rebuild today hostess will ask a bankruptcy judge to approve big bonuses for top executives. bonuses will total nearly $2 million and could go higher. hostess says the incentive is needed to keep the managers during the company's liquidation. nearly 18,000 people are losing their jobs in that bankruptcy. we now know a little bit more about the winners of the biggest power ball jackpot ever. one of the winning tickets was sold at a four sons food store in fountain hills, arizona, northeast of phoenix.

the other at a trex mart in dearborn, missouri, about 35 mimes north of kansas city. the two will have to split the $587 million jackpot. right now nbc's kerry sanders is on his way to dearborn to see if he can crack the code of who the lucky winner is there. he joins me by phone. kerry, i know you are trying to find out the identities and make fast friends with either of these ticketholders, specifically in missouri. what have you found? >> reporter: yeah, well, you know, we're apparently going to have to wait to find out the identity. that's probably smart on the person who's won this money or if it's a group ticket, you know, it might be a group of people. because their lives have to be put in order before they come forward. it's a tremendous amount of money meaning there's going to be a lot of people who want a piece of whoever this person is. and so at this point we don't know who it is. there are wonderful rumors running throughout the community. and certain ideas of how the

numbers may have been chosen. now, i am going to tell you about an odd correlation of numbers. this does not mean that these numbers were chosen this way. it's just an interesting observation by one of our researchers who was looking at the numbers and is sort of a sports fan. i'm not too far from kansas city. when you take a look at the kansas city royal jerseys and you look at some of the hall of fame players, there's number 5 which was george bret. 6, willie wilson. mark gub za, 23. dan quincen berry, 29. den necessary leonard, 22. bo jackson, 16. is that how these numbers were chosen? i don't know. we're waiting to find out. the one thing i can tell you is we will eventually know the identity of this actual winner. because here in this state when you collect your winnings, you must announce who you are. you don't have to have a press conference, but your identity is released for everybody to know.

>> wow. you've got the rainman of sports research there with the kansas city royals' numbers coming up with that and putting that together. kerry sanders, thank you, sir. we'll let you get back to work. time for the news nation gut check. our first read team notes our current congress is about to make mystery but for the wrong reason. they are about to become the least productive in more than 60 years. this congress has only passed 196 new bills into law. many of them were simply ceremonial pieces of legislation like naming courthouses. in order to avoid the title of least productive congress, the house and the senate would need to pass another 138 bills before the session ends next month. something that doesn't seem very likely. right? this news comes as only 18% of americans approve of the way congress is doing its job. a record low 10% approval rating was reported just this august. what does your gut tell you? do you believe the new congress will be more productive? you can go to facebook.com/newsnation. cast your vote there. that's going to do it for this edition of news nation. i'm thomas roberts.

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